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BRUSSELS, March 31 (Reuters) - The European
Union expressed serious concern on Friday over
violent clashes which have killed six people,
including two children, in southeast Turkey and
urged Ankara to improve the rights of Kurds in the
region.
Stone-throwing Kurds have been clashing with riot
police in Diyarbakir since Tuesday, turning the city
of one million people on the River Tigris into a
battle zone.
It is the worse violence in the Muslim nation since
it began accession talks with the 25-nations
European Union last October.
"We are very concerned by the latest tensions in the
southeast of Turkey and the violence which have
resulted in casualties," said Krisztina Nagy,
spokeswoman for the EU's Enlargement Commissioner
Olli Rehn.
"We are aware of the serious terrorist problem in
the region but it is a much wider problem than just
a security issue."
More than 30,000 people, most of them Kurds, have
been killed since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
took up arms for a Kurdish homeland in Turkey in
1984.
Turkey, the European Union and the United States all
see the PKK as a terrorist organisation, but the EU
has also repeatedly urged Ankara to grant greater
cultural and linguistic rights to its 12 million
Kurds. Under pressure, Turkey's government has
passed some reforms, but implementation has remained
patchy.
Nagy urged the Turkish authorities to address
"urgently" the lack of economic development and
cultural rights in that region.
"The region needs peace, economic development and
real exercise of cultural rights for Kurds," Nagy
said, adding that this was not a new problem and was
raised constantly by the European Commission in its
talks with Turkey.
Asked whether the EU executive was critical of
Turkish police actions, Nagy said she was worried by
the whole situation.
The clashes first erupted on Tuesday after funeral
ceremonies for 14 PKK rebels killed by troops last
weekend.
An eight-year-old child died overnight in hospital.
A man and a child were shot dead on Wednesday and a
second man was crushed under a police armoured car.
It was not immediately clear when or how the other
two people died.
Political analysts say the clashes reflect local
anger over high unemployment, poverty and Ankara's
refusal to grant more autonomy and cultural rights
to the mainly Kurdish region.
Police spokesman Ismail Caliskan said the PKK was
behind the violence.
Reuters
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